Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin Talk Model 36 Project Suggestions????

Here's the situation. I have a model 36 that was my grandfathers but is a total wreck! Bulge in the barrel, no blueing, light rust with some pitted areas, hack drill and tap job, and the stock is hammered. But since it was the only rifle Grandpa owned at the time of his death I would like to put it back to use.

That's where you guys come in! Anyone have any great ideas?

I'm leaning towards rebarreling with an octagon tube and I'm kicking around which caliber. Will these recievers color case harden? Anyone have one of these that has been modified to or did the factory chamber to a pistol round?

Thanks

m

The octagon barrel thing might be harder than you think because even if you can buy an aftermarket barrel(I don't think the 36 was ever offered with an octagon barrel) you would have to modify the forend and barrel bands/forend cap depending on whether it's a rifle or carbine.
You could check out Gunbroker or GunsInternational for an original barrel, they can be had.
The action can be colour case hardened but you'll have a lot of work to remove the pitting beforehand.
I think for cartridges you're pretty much restricted to the 36 original chamberings:.30/30,.32 special or maybe .25/36? But that ones hard to feed. The 36 action is pretty much the same as an 1893 Marlin action and Marlin produced the 1894 action for the shorter pistol rounds.
That's my 2 cents anyway.
Also most stocks can be made to look pretty nice with some knowhow and elbow grease. Plug the holes in the action, it's easy if you're going for a total refinish.

Kato
Thanks for the reply. I was planning on doing all the work myself. There is a steel cap on the forend that contains a dovetailed cross rod that fits into the underside of the barrel. That cap has a semi circle that matches the barrel conture but I don't think leaving it as is or modifying it would be a big deal. I would like to do something a bit different and wouldn't mind trying a conversion to a shorter round or possibly a wildcat based on the 30-30 case (possibly a 35-30 Ackley). The toughest part will be cleaning up/repairing the pitting and the color case hardening.

Depending upon how bad the bulge is, I would have Jes Ompaugh (sp?) rebore it to .38-55, MAYBE polish/reblue the metal - and never look back.

If the stock's beyond refinishing, replacements are available.

.

.35-30 Ackley is an excellent round, and you can usually get once-fired .30-30 cases for free just by frequenting a local rifle range. It is essentially a rimmed .35 Rem (and the rim makes handloading and feeding easier). A natural if you handload, and especially if you cast bullets (I used wheelweight metal straight in mine; deadly). If not, I'd go with the .38-55 solution, but have Mark Beinke or somebody like that rebore the original barrel so you can save the markings and avoid all than reworking. Not sure he is set up for .35-30, but you could ask.

Good luck with the project. It WILL be worth it.